FocusPositives - Page 2 of 25 - Transforming One Thought at a Time : Personal Notes of Happiness, Health and Hope FocusPositives

Flowbee Review & Hack: How to cut 3 short pixie haircuts (2021)

August 1st, 2020 § 0 comments § permalink

This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclaimer for more information.

Is the hair salon near me safe?

We are currently in the middle of a pandemic. It’s normal to be overly cautious about the places we visit. A salon visit may put a family member in danger of exposure to COVID 19. It would great if you can give yourself or your family a haircut without depending on the barbers near you. With a a vacuum haircutting system, you won’t need to go anywhere or need to worry about looking like a mess. You can look well put together even if your emotions are all in a mess.

What is a vacuum haircutting system?

A vacuum hair cutting systems uses suction from a vacuum to pull your hair into a blade with spacer attachments and the blade cuts your hair off. Hair is sucked into your vacuum while the blade cuts it off so there is no cleanup. I am using an old vacuum haircutting tool, the flowbee, made in the 80’s. It’s meant to easily cut short hair styles without making a mess. Supposedly, anyone can cut their own hair with absolutely no haircutting experience in the comfort of their own home.

However, from my 10 experience using the flowbee, it has some flaws that make it hard to use. I’ve addressed some major flaws my first review the flowbee for long hair in the post, Flowbee Review & Hack: How to Cut a Long Layered Haircut (2019). In this post I will address the flaws, hacks and tips for short hair. The hacks and tips that will work for the lady or gentleman haircut, girls or boys haircuts.

I have used the flowbee since 2010 and my dad used it when he was young. It’s been through two generations. Once you have it set up, your haircuts will be a breeze. I have not found anything that works better and easier than the Flowbee yet.

Flowbee flaws and DIY fixes/hacks

The flowbee, at first, is an expensive investment but will save you tons of money and time in the long run. The flowbee has a few huge flaws. First, the spacers needs to be more securely attached and the gaps needs to be reduced to maintain suction. I use tape to seal the seams to create strong suction. Second, noise level is high and annoying, you can become deaf without using ear plugs. Three, it last a long, LONG…time but the blade will become dull making it harder to cut your hair. You will have to replace the blades or the system even if it’s not broken. A bonus feature such as a self-sharpening blade would put this vacuum hair cutter to the top.

Flowbee haircut transitions, short haircuts, medium haircuts and long haircuts for newbies

Cutting short hair is not as easy as portrayed in the infomercials. Some hair like my coarse hair will not behave easily. As a self haircut newbie we don’t have any knowledge of the anatomy of your head. It’s difficult to give ourselves the short haircut we desire. It’s also hard to see and control the back of the head for good results. When growing out our hair to different lengths, it can be especially frustrating in between lengths. After about two years of cutting my hair short I came up with some tips and tricks to help you cut any short length hair styles. You can transition back to a longer hairstyle with ease. The video below will show you how you can handle and cut your hair at different stages of your hair growth.

A vacuum haircutting system is a great investment

The first thing is, you will save money in the long run. I’ve written a detailed breakdown here. You can cut hair for the whole family.

Vacuum haircut system options

A flowbee has become much needed and hard to find tool in the pandemic. The price of a Flowbee Haircutting System + Extra Rubber Vacuum Adapter) in 2014 was $99.95 has gone up to $139.95 in 2019 on Amazon. The official flowbee website has sold out as of today’s post on 1/4/2021.

If you are interested in investing in a vacuum haircutting system, definitely explore other vacum hair cutter in the market.  If you want to buy the Flowbee, I would suggest checking amazon to see if they restock and getting it on amazon for free shipping. Some people have had luck on ebay.

Since the flowbee website doesn’t allow returns during COVID 19, instead of hating what you got, a good alternative would be to try something similar instead. A vacuum haircutter very similar to the flowbee haircutting system is the AirCut – Self Hair Cutting Kit. I have not personally tried it but looking at the vacuum haircut system, the tips I’ve mentioned in the video above are still applicable. This is especially true if you’ve never cut your own hair before. You can use it to get an idea what it’s like to cut your own hair with a vacuum haircutter. If it works out, then there’s no need to buy a Flowbee. If it doesn’t work for you, you can have a peace of mind, you’ll be able to return it and not lose your hard earned money. For short hairstyles there’s a lot of other vaccum hair cutter options.

Conclusion: I love my vacuum hair trimmer

Since I’ve been using a vacuum haircutting system, I’ve learned to hack the system to cut the longest layered to the shortest layered haircut. The transition from a super short haircut to a bob cut, to a medium layered haircut, to a super layer haircut has been a wonderful learning experience. I have total control of my time and hairstyle without worrying about messing up or having a mess to clean up after. Now, I love short hair. I able to go back to long hair effortlessly. It’s been fun cutting different hairstyles by myself. Here’s other haircutting methods I have tried cutting my hairs with.

1-1.5″ Flowbee Pixie Haircut, Flowbee buzzcut
1-1.5″ Flowbee Pixie Haircut

Massage body aches and pains away: Do you owe a beating?

July 31st, 2020 § 0 comments § permalink

This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclaimer for more information.

Usually in Asian dramas mothers would often say this to their kids, “你欠打!” (You owe a beating!!!) and trust me it’s not a question. This threat often comes when kids do something obnoxiously wrong or bad. Ok, I admit, it’s doesn’t only happen in dramas :p

Why do you need to beat yourself up?

In Chinese medicine there’s a saying, “痛则不通, 通则不痛”. It means where there’s pain there’s blockage, where there’s no pain there’s no blockage. A sedentary lifestyle is the main cause of stagnant blood circulation in the body. Beating yourself, even though it sounds a bit psychotic, is a very simple way to stir up blood circulation to relieve muscle aches and pains.

If you have lots of body aches all over, look into your lifestyle, what bad behavior have you committed to deserve a beating? Or in this case it’s more like muscle pain management. I admit you are not alone. I sit in front of the computer all day and night with no exercise. I don’t sleep until late hours, I don’t drink enough water. Years of built up stagnancy led up to feeling sluggish and sick. Overworked and no rest for my body and organs to heal. I have treated myself badly. Behavior correction time!!!

How to make a (massage) beating stick

Roll 4-5 sheets of newspaper, thick magazine spreads or pages from a huge calendar into a roll about 1″ thick. I am 4’10”, 103lbs, if you are bigger than me and can’t feel the pounding much add a few more sheets of paper to make it thicker. If the wand causes a painful uncomfortable feeling than it’s too thick.  The key thing is to make sure you leave the core about half empty so the roll is not solid. If it’s solid you may really get bruised instead of a massage. Last, wrap clear tape all around the tube to prevent it from breaking and falling apart. If it rips after use just wrap more tape around to fix it.

paper massage wand

You can also use a massage knock hammer if you prefer something more permanent. I have this one I bought from a Japanese store in Japantown.

How to use a beating stick to massage body aches

Although beating yourself is one simple way to stir up your blood circulation you don’t want to literally beat yourself to death. The beating process is a very gentle. You feel sore pain but not pain that is hurting. You feel relief after your sore pain goes away. You feel better and better as you beat yourself.

Beat where you feel sore. When your body is normal you will only feel soft hits like a massage but when you are sore you will feel  a slight to intense pain, but it feels good after you hit it. Sounds like self abuse, but trust me, the more you hit that spot the less pain you will feel. What you are doing is inducing circulation at the spot. As more blood flows to the spot and circulation increases the pains goes away. Remember the Chinese medical saying in Chinese, “痛则不通, 通则不痛” (If there’s is pain there is blockage, if there’s no blockage there’s no pain.) When you gently beat the blockage it breaks apart and allow your circulation to flow and the pain will dissipate. Beating yourself wherever there’s pain is a massage that you can do yourself anytime.

There’s a Chinese saying, “打者爱也” (Beat those you love) so you can do this with a partner. I’m not promoting physical abuse, don’t take it so literal in its meaning. In this case we want to beat the crap(toxins) away. This beating is to show yourself or loved ones some love, take turns to beat each other up gently. You’ll both feel a lot better after the pains beaten out of you. 

DIY infinity scarf, Easy sewing project (free pattern)

July 30th, 2020 § 0 comments § permalink

This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclaimer for more information.

Free Infinity Scarf Pattern

I made a really simple infinity scarf from a faux fur fabric and wanted to share it with you. This infinity scarf is a very easy things to sew. A super easy sewing project for someone with basic sewing skills. There’s no need to knit or crochet a scarf. This scarf is soft, chunky and warm. If you have all the materials, you’ll have this done as quickly as 1/2 – 1 hour and ready for some chilly weather. You can experiment with this easy sewing project using different textured cloth such as knitted fabric to get the desired results you want.

diy faux fur infinity scarf

Materials

Faux fur 64″ wide fabric – 1/4 yard (9″)
Matching color thread

Directions

  1. Cut a rectangle 64″(w) x 9″(h). No need to cut if you bought the fabric at this size.
  2. Fold it in half (w) with fur side facing each other. Sew the ends together (1/4″-1/2″ seem)
  3. Fold (h) in half, with fur side facing each other. Sew edge together (1/4″-1/2″ seem) leaving 4″ gap not sewn together. Now you have a loop.
  4. From the 4″ gap invert the loop so the fur side is showing.
  5. Push the seams of the 4″ gap inside and sew the gap together.

My finished scarf’s dimension is about 62″,  31″(w) x 3.75″(h) when laid flat. I can loop the scarf around my neck twice, like the holes of an “8” stacked on top of each other.

Tips

Try to find the widest fabric and buy about 1/4 yard of fabric. This way you can save some money and makes the project a lot simpler. You won’t need to do any cutting. You can get straight to sewing.

If you want to make yours longer buy more material and sew it together to make a longer version.

To determine the right fit for you, you can hang a string around your shoulder, loop the string around once and use that as a guide to the width of your fabric width. Doing this can help you visualize how low your infinite scarf will fall. The longer the loop is the lower your scarf will fall. Enjoy and have fun.

Super Easy Crockpot Chicken Porridge/Congee (慢炖锅鸡肉粥)

March 26th, 2020 § 0 comments § permalink

This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclaimer for more information.

Healthy Chicken Crockpot Recipes

Chicken soup is one of the healthiest soups. When I was sick my mom would make plain congee with just rice and water for me to detox my body. When I was weak she’d make chicken soup for me to boost my immune system. Today I will show you how to make the fastest and most lazy way to make a delicious combination of both. This is one of the easiest chicken recipes that will take less than 10 mins to prepare.

I love congee or porridge. One of my all-time favorites is chicken rice congee. This is one of the easiest chicken recipes, slow cooker recipes that you can cook in a crockpot. Crockpot chicken recipes are my favorite because they are so easy to make. I am using a 5 quart crockpot. It takes no time to prepare and no maintenance in front of a stove. All you need is chicken, rice, dried scallops ( optional), and water. Watch the video below for more details. Enjoy this crockpot chicken porridge soup on a cold day or any lazy day. You don’t have to slave all day to get a nutritious meal. What’s great about this slow cooker chicken recipe is you also get a nutritious bone soup all mixed in the batch. I hope you’ll give it a try. Enjoy.

How to Make Chicken Soup (Congee)

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups, Rice (1 cup to 7 cups of water)
  • 14 cups Water
  • 2 Dried Scallops
  • whole chicken, chicken carcass, chicken thighs, or chicken breast ( Use whichever you have)

What to Serve With Soup

  • Diced scallion or parsley
  • Sliced ginger slivers
  • white pepper
  • Salt to taste
  • Fried donut (optional)

Messy House,Frugal Hoarding: 2020 Declutter Challenge

February 9th, 2020 § 0 comments § permalink

Messy house is Out of Control

I am sick of my messy clutter. I have way too much useless things like collections of old receipts, old bills, paper boxes, plastic bags, old packaging, old advertisements and lots of old clothes I’ve had since childhood that are taking up all my free space. I want to force myself to do a 7 day, no sit  declutter challenge to see if I can handle the stress of cleaning since there is an weird emotional attachment to these useless things. I don’t see lots of people talking about these types of hoarded items. I would think maybe there are people like me out there? Maybe this will help me and them get started?

Goal for Decluttering

I will clean for 7 days, everyday, after dinner. The duration does not matter. I won’t force myself to throw out anything. This is purely an exercise to get my momentum going and to see if I can last through the 7 day cleaning challenge. Hopefully this will give me some ideas and encouragement how I will organize my messy clutter and to change my hoarding habits.

Additional Cleaning Goal

In this challenge, I will also incorporate a  “Low Buy No Buy ” challenge to avoid accumulating more things in the process. I know I have more than plenty of what I need in my hoarded mess. This way if nothing comes in to the home I am not accumulating more things. If nothing comes in and I am throwing things out, eventually I hope the spaces in the home will clear up.

(Finished) 7 day Declutter Challenge

I completed the 7 day declutter challenge. Even though you hear a lot of people say, “Starting is the hardest part.” I didn’t realize how true it was because this was really emotionally difficult for me. I am so glad I did this. I was so motivated I did the declutter challenge for a whole month. Check it out. I’ll be posting more videos from the challenge there. The process was mentally exhausting I had to take a break before I could look at the videos again.

My 7 day No Sit Declutter Videos






  • Facebook

  • SUBSCRIBE TO MY

  • NOTE BOOKS

  • HISTORY

  • POPULAR NOTES